Coke oven bracing means



June 22, 1965 c. OTTO 3,190,818

COKE OVEN BRACING MEANS Filed Feb. 6, 1963 4a A 52 52- I 754 I 56 o 54 46 44 60 64 2a ,1

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l u 1/ z INVENTOR CARL OTTO ATTORNEYS.

HEM, drew United States Patent O 3,190,818 COKE OVEN BRACING MEANS Carl Otto, 8 The Beachway, Manhasset, N .Y. Filed Feb. 6, 1963, Ser. No. 256,614 12 Claims. (Cl. 202-268) This invention relates to bracing means for industrial ovens and particularly to bracing means for coke oven batteries.

in the zone where it is necessary to have its high temperature endurance and the clay brick is employed elsewhere. However, silica brick has a higher coeificient of thermal expansion than does clay brick, and, in the application described as already noted, the silica brick is subjected to much higher temperatures. Accordingly, due to both higher temperatures and to a higher coefficient of thermal expansion, the portion of the coke oven battery made of silica brick will tend to expand substantially greater than will the two cooler zones of expanding clay brick.

In order to provide mechanical support for the brick structure of a coke oven battery, it is well known to dis pose along the sides of the battery at spaced intervals vertically extending rein-forcing members known as buckstays which lbu ckstay s are generally in opposed relation to buckstays on the other side and which buck-stays are generally secured to their opposite buckstays as by tie rods running along the roof and the bottom of the batteries. As the tie rods are secured in the areas of lowest expansion of the battery, the area between the points of support will tend to cause an outward buckling of the buckstays which buckling may well move the buckstays into a spacedrelationship with the areas of lower expansion and thereby no longer give mechanicalsu-p-port thereto.

-It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a new and improved bracing means for coke oven batteries and the like which bracing means, will tend to provide superior support for the brickwork of the battery.

Another object of the present invention will be to provide a new and improved bracing means forhorizontal coke oven batteries which bracing means includes means for exerting forces thereon resistant to the expansive forces of the highest expanding portion of the battery.

The above and other objects, characteristics and teatures' of the present invention will be more fully under stood'from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 'lA is a tfiragmentary vertical sectional view through a heating wall of a coke oven battery;

FIG. 1B is a view similar to FIG. 1A taken through a coking chamber of said battery;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to'FIG. 1B showing a modified j form of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIGS. 2 and 1B showing still a further modification of the present invention.

Referring now tothe drawings in detail, the coke oven battery shown in FIGS. 1A and 11B is generally designated by the reference numeral =10. Such a coke oven bati tery is made up of a plurality of heating walls 12 which are spaced apart by coking chambers 14. Underlying ice the heating walls and coking chambers are regenerator chamber-s 16 and, in thepresent instance, rich gas passages 18, the battery illustrated being an underjet battery of the hairpin flue type. However, it will be understood that any well known form of coke oven battery may be employed. For example, the battery rather than being of the underjet type, may be a gun flue oven or a lean gas oven or a compound oven of any Well known construction. Further, in lieu of a hairpin flue type oven, the oven may be a two-divided oven, a four-divided oven or a crossover oven, as are well known. Overlying the heating walls and coking chambers is a roof 20.

As previously mentioned herein, the major portion of the regenerator 16, that is the portion below the line 22 shown in FIG. 1A is made of clay brick adequate to withstandthe temperatures in the cooler lower portion of the regenerator. However, the portions of the battery above the horizontal line 22 and below a horizontal line 24 forming the bottom of the roof 20 are made of silica brick and the roof 20 itself is again made of clay brick. Provided in the roof 20 are a plurality of loading ports 26 and apertures 28 providing access to the vertical heat ing walls 12.

Disposed along each of the sides 32 and 34 of the battery 10 are a plurality of spaced apart vertically extending buckstays '36 and 38 which are in supporting relation with the sides 32 and 34, respectively. As shown herein the buckstays are in the form of I-beams though other forms of structural members may be employed. Moreover, each of the buck-stays 36 is in opposed relation to a buckstay 6'8 whereby to form a pair of associated buckstays, one associated pair of which is illustrated in combined FIGS. 1A and 1B. Buckstays 36 and 33 are secured to one another near the top by a tie rod 40 and are secured to one another at the bottom by a tie rod 42. As shown herein the means for securing the tie rods to the buckstays include compression springs 44 which are pressed against the outer surfaces of the buckstays 36 and 138 by nuts 46 threadedly secured to threaded ends of the buckstays. A similar arrangement is employed tor the bottom buckstays 42. Thus it will be seen that the buckstays each have horizontal inwardly directed forces applied to them at their tops and bottoms and rely on their own inherent strength and stiffness to apply said forces to the areas in between the two tie rods.

As previously noted, the brickwork between the hori zontal lines 22 and 24 expands further than the brickwork below and above said lines, respectively. This expansion of the central brickwork will tend to cause an outward bowing or buckling of each of the buckstays 36 and 38 to thereby cause the buckstay 36 to look like a flattened C and the buckstay 38 to look like a mirror image of the buckstay 36. This outward bowing of the buckstays may well cause the buckstays to move out of supporting relation with the regenerator and roof brickwork and thereby permit free' expansion thereof and possible cracking,

. which, of course, is highly undesirable.

To overcome the outward forces applied by the expanding silica brick which causes the bowing of the buckstays, I intend to apply forces on the buckstay to resist said bowing movement. In accordance with the present invention 1 apply these forces by providing thebuckstays 36 and 38 at their tops with inwardly mounted cantilevers 84 and 50, respectively, which cantilevers are firmly secured to their associated buckstays 36 and 38 as by reinforcing plates 52 and necessary riveting and welding.

Further, if desired, bracing rods 54 may be included to further make rigid the cantilevers 48 and 50. Depend ing from the cantilevers 48 and 50 are vertical members 56 and 58, respectively, which members are at their bottom in engagement with compression springs 60 and 62, respectively, the lower ends of the compression springs being in engagement with pressure plates 64 and 66 resting on the upper surface of the coke oven battery roof 20. As the force of the tie rods tends to bow upwardly or arch the roof 20, the roof 20 is capable of accepting a substantial downward force exerted thereon by the canti levers, vertical members and springs and, in return, to exert a reactive upward force thereon tending to pivot upwardly the cantilevers 48 and 59. This upward pivoting of the cantilevers 48 and 56 will result in a force being applied to the upper ends of the buckstays 36 and 38 in a direction to cause them to bow inwardly towards the sidewalls 32 and 34 in opposition to the bowing forces applied by the expanding silica brick whereby to reduce the overall tendency of the buckstays to bow outwardly and hence keep the buckstays in supporting relation with the entire sidewall of the coke oven battery and to eliminate or reduce the non-support sometimes resulting from overexpansion of the silica brick. In this manner a far sturdier bracing means for the coke oven battery 18 may be achieved.

While it is preferred to employ the compression springs 66 and 62 to transmit the vertical forces between the roof and the cantilevers, other means can be employed for this purpose. For example, wedges or jacks may be interposed between the pressure plates 64 and 66 on the one hand and their associated vertical members 56 and 58 on the other, the springs thereby being eliminated. However, the inclusion of the compression springs for transmitting these vertical forces is preferred as the springs tend to limit the amount of vertical forces and also to absorb any shocks or vibrations which might damage the roof.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the battery therein is in all respects identical to the battery shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B with the exception of the inclusion of floating pressure plates 68 which are interposed between the buckstays and the clay brick of the regenerator 16 at the bottoms of the buckstays. The floating pressure plates 68 are pressed into supporting relation with the sidewall 34 (and 32 not shown) by compression springs 70 supported operatively by one of the flanges of the buckstays and whose compression force is adjustable by a threaded adjusting means 72. The reason for the inclusion of the pressure plates 68 is that the forces exerted by the cantilever 50 will have a greater effect in the area of the roof than near the bottom and the pressure plates 68 serve to provide additional supportive means for the bottom clay brick in the regenerator 16 by virtue of the fact that as the lower part of the buckstay 38 bows out, the compression springs 70 will expand to hold the pressure plates 68 against the side 34 of the battery in the regenerator zone thereof to provide inwardly directed compressive forces thereon to continue support, Thus, by including the pressure plates 68 with the cantilevers 50, inward forces are exerted on the sides of the battery at both the upper and lower ends where they are most needed to insure support throughout the entire vertical length of the side.

With reference to FIG. 3, still additional auxiliary bracing means to exert forces on the lower clay brick forming the generator 16 may be employed in combination with the cantilever arrangement heretofore described to insure even better support throughout the length of the sidewalls of the battery. The embodiment of FIG. 3 includes all components shown in FIG. 2 but in addition includes a diagonal bracing means 74 for causing the horizontal member 76 of the coke oven door handling equipv ment support structure 78 to exert an inward force on the lower part of the buckstays 38 (and 36, not shown) whereby further to resist the outward bowing. Specifically, the door handling equipment support structure 78 includes a multiplicity of horizontal members 76 which on which door handling equipment (not shown) moves back and forth in the well known manner. In accordance with the present embodiment, a diagonal member 74 is secured as at 82 to the lower end of the buckstay 38 and is secured as at 84 to the outer end of the horizontal member 76. The diagonal bracing means 74 is placed under tension as will be hereinafter described, which tension will cause the horizontal member 76 to exert an inwardly directed force to the buckstay 38 (and on the other side to the buckstay 36 not shown) whereby to further resist the outward bowing of the lower portion of the buckstays. As shown herein, the tension forces in the diagonal bracing means 74 are exerted in part by a tension spring 86 and in part by a turnbuckle 88 although either one or the other may be effective for performing this function alone. For example, a diagonal tie rod with a simple compression spring may be employed without the turnbuckle or, in the alternative, a simple tie rod with a turnbuckle and without a compression spring may also be employed. Regardless of the specific structure of the diagonal bracing means 74 the net result thereof will be to exert a horizontal inwardly directed force on the horizontal members 76 of the support structure 78 whereby to resist the outward bowing of the buckstays. It will be understood that other means for causing the horizontal member 76 to exert an inwardly directed force on the buckstays may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

While in FIG. 3, an embodiment of the invention including both the spring pressed pressure plates 68 and the diagonal bracing means 74 in combination with the cantilever arrangement at the top has been described, it will be appreciated that the diagonal bracing means for the door handling support structure alone (that is without pressure plates 68) in combination with the cantilever force means at the top of the buckstays would provide an eminently satisfactory bracing arrangement. In such an arrangement it will be understood that the horizontal members 76 would exert an inwardly directed horizontal force on the buckstays to hold the lower portions of the buckstays against the outward buckling tending to be produced by the expansion of the silica brick in the heating walls. In this way bowing would be restricted at both the bottom and top of the buckstays.

It will also be understood that the present bracing means in whatever form is useful not only in industrial furnaces wherein there are different types of bricks included but wherever differential expansion is present. For example, in the coke oven battery described above, the various forms of bracing means would also have a desirable eifect even if all of the brick throughout the battery were made of one material, for example, silica. In such a battery, the silica brick in the area of the heating walls and coking chambers would, due to higher temperatures in that area, tend to expand a greater amount than the silica brick in the cooler regenerator and roof zones whereby to produce a tendency toward bowing in the buckstays. While this tendency might not be as great as when bricks of different thermal expansion rates are employed, it would nevertheless exist. Accordingly, present bracing means would be useful in such batteries also.

While I have herein shown and described several forms of the present invention, it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

What I claim is:

1. An industrial furnace having two sides and a roof, bracing means comprising a pair of opposed vertical members, one for each side, in operative engagement with said sides, said vertical members extending above said roof, a pair of tie rods securing said vertical members to each other adjacent their bottoms and adjacent the roof, a horizontally extending member for each vertical member secured thereto above said roof and extending inwardly over the roof of said furnace, and vertically extending means for each horizontally extending member operatively engaging said horizontally extending member and said roof and being under compression.

2. An industrial furnace as defined in claim 1, wherein said vertically extending means includes a compression spring.

3. In combination with a horizontal regenerative coke oven battery having a low temperature regenerator section near the bottom of the battery, a low temperature roof, and a high temperature section therebetween, said battery having a pair of substantially parallel sides extending from the bottom of the low temperature regenerator section to the roof, a pair of opposed buckstays in supporting relation with said sides, said buckstays extending from the bottom of said sides to above said roof, a horizontally extending member fixed to each of said buckstays above said roof and being directed toward the other of said buckstays, and vertically extending compression means for each of said horizontal members operatively engaging said roof and its associated horizontal member.

4. The combination defined in=claim 3, wherein said compression means includes a compression spring.

5. The combination defined in claim 3, further comprising a pair of plates interposed between said buckstays and said low temperature regenerator section, and spring.

means operatively connected to said buckstays and said plates for biasing said plates into supporting relation with low temperature regenerator zone.

6. The combination defined in claim 3, further comprising means for applying a force to said buckstays in the direction of said side walls and in the vicinity of the border between said low temperature regenerator section and said high temperature section.

7. The combination defined in claim 3, further comprising trestle means along each side including a horizontal member for each buckstay connected thereto and extending outwardly therefrom, a vertical support for each horizontal trestle member, and diagonal tension means connected at one end to said buckstay and connected at its other end to said horizontal trestle member.

8. The combination defined in claim 3, further comprising trestle means along each side including a horizontal member for each buckstay connected thereto and extending outwardly therefrom, a vertical support for each horizontal trestle member, and diagonal tension means connected at one end to said buckstay and connected at its other end to said horizontal trestle member, said tension means including a tension spring.

9. The combination defined in claim 3, further comprising a pair of plates interposed between said buckstays and said low temperature regenerator section, and spring means operatively connected to said buckstays and said plates for biasing said plates into supporting relation with low temperature regenerator section, and trestle means along each side including a horizontal member for each buckstay connected thereto and extending outwardly therefrom, a vertical support for each horizontal trestle member, and diagonal tension means connected at one end to said buckstay and connected at its other end to said horizontal trestle member.

10. An industrial furnace having two sides and a roof, coke oven bracing means comprising a pair of opposed vertical members, one for each side, in operative engagement with said sides, said vertical members extending above said roof, a pair of tie rods securing said vertical members to each other adjacent their bottoms and their tops, and means associated with each of said vertical members for applying adjacent the top thereof a couple for .bowing said vertical members inwardly toward their associated furnace sides.

11. In combination, a horizontal regenerative coke oven battery having a low expansion regenerator section near the bottom of the battery, a low expansion roof, and a high expansion section therebetween, said battery having a pair of substantially parallel sides extending from the bottom of the low expansion regenerator section to the roof, a pair of opposed buckstays in supporting relation with said sides, said buckstays extending from the bottom of said sides to above said roof, a horizontally extending member fixed to each of said buckstays above the roof and being directed toward the other of said buckstays, and vertically extending compression means for each of said horizontal members operatively engaging said roof and its associated horizontal member.

12. In combination with a horizontal regenerative coke oven battery having a low temperature regenerative section near the bottom of the battery, a low temperature roof section, and a high temperature section therebetween, said lOW temperature sections being made from clay brick and said high temperature section being made from silica References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/53 Otto 202-268 11/57 Ackeren 202-268 MORRIS O. WOLK, Primary Examiner.

JAMES H. TAYMAN, 111., Examiner. 

1. AN INDUSTRIAL FURNACE HAVING TWO SIDES AND A ROOF, BRACING MEANS COMPRISING A PAIR OF OPPOSED VERTICAL MEMBERS, ONE FOR EACH SIDE, IN OPERATIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID SIDES, SAID VERTICAL MEMBERS EXTENDING ABOVE SAID ROOF, A PAIR OF TIE RODS SECURING SAID VERTICAL MEMBERS TO EACH OTHER ADACENT THEIR BOTTOMS AND ADACENT THE ROOF, A HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING MEMBER FOR EACH VERTICAL MEMBER SECURED THERETO ABOVE SAID ROOF AND EXTENDING INWARDLY OVER THE ROOF OF SAID FURNACE, AND VERTICALLY EXTENDING MEANS FOR EACH HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING MEMBER OPERATIVELY ENGAGING SAID HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING MEMBER AND SAID ROOF AND BEING UNDER COMPRESSION. 